


there's no kingdom come

by yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway



Category: In the Heights - Miranda/Hudes
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Cameos, F/F, Fluff and Angst, GP is a Shiba dog, M/M, Prophecies, Romance, Sonny is a dragon, female knights, not too much cussing but, someday ill learn how the fuck to tag, the author loves to cuss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24060754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway/pseuds/yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway
Summary: the east and the west kingdoms have been at war for a thousand years since the kings of the past had fought to the death. the forest is under a curse. a confused benny has to meet usnavi... with the assumption that the eastern prince won't beat him to the death.or, a ttp/in the heights crossover.
Relationships: Benny/Lincoln Rosario (one-sided), Benny/Usnavi (In the Heights), Camila Rosario/Kevin Rosario, Kevin Rosario & Benny, Nina/Vanessa
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	there's no kingdom come

**Author's Note:**

> hello! a few notes before you begin reading:
> 
> \- you dont have to listen to the two princes podcast to read this, but the plot is derived off of the story written by kevin christopher snipes.  
> \- find me on tumblr @yo-let-me-get-a-milkyway.  
> \- the characters dont drop too much f bombs, but the cussing is minor.  
> \- the characters belong to lin manuel miranda and quiara alegria hudes.  
> \- listen to the demos, please?

“Get that thief!”

He ran down the east corridor, hearing the watch dogs bark behind him. “He has the forbidden book!” one man yelled, and he heard their leader and another guardian knight exclaim.

It was then or nothing. “Geronimo,” he whispered, before he escaped out the window. They may have been fast, but he was faster. Jumping out the stone windows, he swung onto the silk drapes that covered the castle walls, landing on the window washer’s swing before he lowered himself into the town. The knights were ordering out of the window to catch him, so he turned the other corner of the castle and slid down as quietly as possible as not to be intercepted. Landing quietly on the stone pavement of town, he noticed a crowd beginning to form around the town square. Perhaps he could blend in.

Curling his cloak around him and securing the book, he fit through the crowd, only to hear a group of knights holler for his title. “You are to report to the queen, vandal!” he heard one knight exclaim. He began to run even quicker attempting not to arouse suspicion, until someone tripped him.

“So, you think you can get off that easily?”

He turned his head. “Mom?!”

The woman who stuck her foot out unhooded her face, revealing her tired stature. Benjamin sighed, picking up the book once again as he heard the crowd ooh and ahh and ignore the usual entertainer of the town. His mother Alma - the queen, he noted - dragged him miserably back to the castle, watching all the knights and nodding silent apologies. If it was the biggest mistake he had made, he had forgotten that his mother was a warrior at heart.

As soon as the castle doors shut, Benny was immediately lectured.

“Ay, mi amor, you are in big trouble!” she yapped like an angry dog, taking him by the ear back up to his “torture chamber” in the tallest tower.

Benny followed as quickly as possible as not to get himself dragged hopelessly on the floor. “Mom, easy on the ear!”

“You’ll be lucky to have any ear when I’m through with you! How dare you embarrass me like that on the floor when I have a court to speak to?”

He held his hands up in surrender, pausing in the corridor as his mother let go. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. For having the knights drag you out of your court meeting to intercept me.”

Reaching into his 8 year old worn out satchel (his mother eyed that thing like it was a piece of moldy fruitcake), he pulled out the book. “I know the forbidden book... it’s forbidden,” Benny ashamedly stared at the ground, but he balled up his fists and stared his mother in the eye. “No one will tell me about what’s outside our kingdom though!”

“Maybe no one will talk to you about what’s outside our kingdom because there’s nothing outside our kingdom,” his mother told him, unlocking the door to the tower’s stair well before opening it and taking him up. “And maybe everyone is a little busy, like your mother and the knights forced to leave their guard duty to chase you down. The Lord knows they need a raise. “

“It’s taking over our kingdom!”

“That’s a lie.”

“Mom.”

“The forest is not taking over our kingdom.”

Benny gestured towards the window, staring at the walls of their kingdom. “There are literally trees and vines seeping over the border.” He gestured towards the street. You couldn’t cross it without tripping over them at least once. The crops were also looking bleak themselves. “It’s a safety hazard, mother, our kingdom, is being squeezed to death and no one is doing-”

“Can you please drop this distasteful subject?”

“From what I can piece together, this all began a thousand years ago when the two kings fought in the-”

“No one is setting foot in that forest, Benjamin.”

He flinched at his mother’s harsh tone, accepting defeat exasperatedly. “Fine. I’ll drop the forest then. But you can’t blame me if we’re all driven to ruin.”

“Benjamin, my dear boy, none of this is your responsibility. You’re a child!”

“Mom, stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Dismissing me. Treating me like a kid.”

She scoffed. “Benjamin, you’re such an ungrateful child.”

“Ungrateful?”

“Yes, ungrateful. We have everything in the world we could ask for, a castle, excessive parties every night, and a kingdom that loves us moderately thanks to your father. Why spoil it all looking for trouble?”

At the thought of his non-existent father, Benny clenched his fists even tighter. “Our kingdom is dying and we are on the verge of collapse! I can’t sit here in a tower all day and watch the clouds drift by!”

Alma shook her head. “You have so much to learn about ruling. But Lesson Number One - life can be perfect if you don’t look into it so hard.”

“That’s dumb.”

“How’s this for a lesson then?”

She gently shoved Benny inside the torture chamber, locking it as quick as she could while holding the knob as still as possible to jam the key inside like a ramrod to a cannon. “Hey, let me out!” Her son banged on the formidable iron, complaints rambling out of his mouth. “You’re grounded for now, son.”

“Can’t keep me grounded my entire life!”

“I’d try jumping out the window, but the crocodiles haven’t been fed thanks to the Moat Master. You’d break a bone trying, and even so you’d die in the process. Once you end up there the knights will intercept you, and you’ll end up grounded for the month.”

“You say that like you want me dead.”

“Be good, Rupert! I wouldn’t want you in there for dinner as well.”

She heard rather than saw Benny flip her off. As she walked down the stairs, the bangs on the door ceased, one last loud thump hitting the iron.

This wasn’t a literally torture room, but it felt like it. There was nothing to do but write, read and draw. (Benjamin was nowhere near stupid or illiterate, but all three were boring when you knew all mediums of art like a professional.) The very essence of the torture chamber was boredom - it seeped out the energy in your bones until all you could do was sleep. His mother didn’t even place a punching bag in here - the most athletic thing he could do was swing a dumb wooden sword at the wood post.

His large Shiba dog, Pete (named after the amazing GP, the local artist of this town), barked sadly at his feet. “Hey Pete, looks like we’re grounded.” His dog only smiled, narrowing its eyes before it bounded towards the window, happily sitting on the desk. “Again.”

Pete barked at him, turning its head in question before confidently barking back at him. Benny nodded. “You’re right. I can’t let my mother get me down. I’m just so tired of her treating me like a child.”

He rolled onto his back on the cool stone floor, feeling the breeze drift in through the small window. “It’s just - if my dad were here, there’s no way she’d get away with this. He would take me seriously. He’d listen when I tell him what the hell is going on outside our castle grounds.”

“You know what? Bet this - he’d have handled this whole thing before it became a serious problem.”

Pete barked at him to calm down. He stared at the Shiba in apology.

The picture on the shelf gave him something to look at. It was a younger version of himself, held in his mother’s arms, the throne parallel to where his mother sat empty. Another sat a picture of his father from about 20 years ago, when he never even existed. He teared up.

_I wish I met the father I never had._

\---

They had finished the courtroom meeting with the Parliament, and now Alma was happy to seek advice from only the perhaps wisest man in the kingdom and the Chamberlain, Kevin Rosario. (His daughter is an excellent testimony to that, as she was raised excellently. If only she knew his tricks.) She paced the entirety of the length of the room as Kevin sat himself at the coffee table, admiring the decoration of the room as he listened to the Queen ramble on.

“I don’t know what to do about my son, Chamberlain Rosario!”

“Yes yes, Your Majesty,” Kevin tiredly followed along, sipping at his coffee. He stared into it strangely, before plopping in 5 more sugar cubes and a little more milk.

Alma stared angrily at a map on the wall as if it had wronged her. “These last few weeks as the Forest has grown, he’s begun to take notice of what’s occurring! He’s always come off as the observant type, but he’s just downright aggressive and impossible about our situation!”

Kevin nodded, pulling out a chair and letting Alma sit. “I do not know how much longer I can keep up this charade. I mean, he has eyes - he can see how much trouble we’re in!”

“Your Excellency, please-”

“Everyone can see how much trouble we’re in!”

She sat herself back down once she noticed she was hunching herself over the table. “They will notice soon enough, if we don’t do anything. Once they notice that I have broken my composure, this city will erupt into chaos! Tell me, Chamberlain, what do you assume we must do?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Oh for god’s sake Rosario, you’re my Lord Chamberlain! Yess, Your Majesty, Yess, Your Majesty - advise me or something!”

Kevin huffed into his coffee, which grew colder by the minute. “With all due respect,” he began to tell Alma. “I suppose it’s time to educate your son on what’s going on out there.”

“The truth?! What do you mean the truth?!”

“About the forest,” he began, scared to look the Queen in the eyes. “...and the prophecy.”

He was paused by an angry slam of the table. “Not. A. Chance. I’ve protected my son from the truth for eighteen years and I’ll do so for the next eighteen hundred!” She narrowed her voice. “Is that clear?”

Kevin nodded awfully quickly. “Of course.”

“Good. And while we’re on the subject.” She handed him the Forbidden book. “You can burn this book immediately. No one needs to read it anyways.”

Kevin narrowed his eyes. “Burning it will not extinguish the flames of the prophecy or your son’s curiosity. And your small little tea parties-”

“They are not small! I assure you that Lady Jackson has been enjoying them as much as I have them!” Alma protested, before she ended up wincing. “I’ve been too small scale in my thinking…”

The queen’s head perked up. “Oh, that’s it! Kevin, you’re a genius!”

He saw Alma run out the door, leaving him dumbfounded and rigid from that awfully tense conversation. “I do hope that young Benny will be okay,” he told himself, before he stood to examine the map on the wall. It was the east and west lands - eighteen years ago.

Pocketing the relic, he exited the room, anticipating where the Queen may have ran off to and the dinner that awaited him at home.

\---

“G'night Pete,” Benny told his Shiba. Pete stuck out his tongue happily, before curling around the smelly blanket he owned. “Sleep tight.”

After dinner was brought up to him by his own Chamberlain (the son of his mother’s own adviser, Lincoln. He thought it right not to bring Kevin into the job for so long, and he ended up appointing the boy. They were good friends and Lincoln offered to help him escape. Benny refused - “this is what I get for disobeying my mother”), Pete decided to barf chunks of steak all over the floor. He threw that outside using a clean up rag, before proceeding to read several books and paint a little portrait he would give to someone.

Just as he was about to rest his head, he heard a loud rumble noise. “What was that?” he quickly stumbled, reaching for his candle on the nightstand. “Is someone there?”

There was a strange humming in the air. “Pete,” he loudly whispered at the dog. “Pete, do you hear that?” The dog didn’t move an inch, and the creaky growling noise only came louder by the minute. He ruffled his fur, but his dog was fast asleep.

“This isn’t funny,” he told the air. “If someone’s there, you need to show yourself right now.”

There was a strange noise in the direction of the window, so he poked his head out the window, only to be met with more of that strange staticy growl. “Come, Benny,” it seemed to tell him, “Come to the forest.” Something in his DNA tingled, like a string of his lineage, and suddenly he was seeing things.

The clash of two swords. The yell of his father’s name from a foreign tongue. A smile like sunshine.

“Oh boy,” he groaned when the light stopped flashing before his eyes, gripping the edge of his table and spilling the ink all over his map. He fumbled with the spilt ink, getting his hands all black and dirty. He clenched his nightshirt, heart aching like he was almost about to die.

Pete stirred in his bed, quietly woofing as if he was snoring. Benny assumed it was best not to wake up his dog, so he crawled in next to Pete and willed his eyes to shut.

When he finally fell asleep, the forest calmed a bit. Something stirred in him though, and a cool breeze filled the room. There was one thing he knew - that forest was calling him.

He just didn’t know why.

\---

His mother came in like a fanfare.

“Rise and shine! Wakey wakey, sleepy head!”

He heard the whimpers of Pete beside him and the dog pounced off of the bed, his tail accidently smacking Benny’s face and making him sneeze. His mother stood there all cheery like yesterday didn’t even happen. Benjamin stretched his back, hearing his bones crack and wincing at the noise. He rolled off of his bed, landing on the floor.

“Wha,” he slurred out. “What’s got you all excited?”

“Get off the floor, Benjamin. You are not a dog.”

Pete whimpered. Alma tsked at him gently. He continued to sit and watch.

Benny groaned. “I heard the weirdest dream last night. Hell, I don’t even know if it was-”

His mother cut him off, mocking him. “You never stop talking. Anyways, your mother has the most wonderful news.”

She turned to face her son, grabbing a chair and sitting on it as he propped himself back on bed. “I thought about what you said yesterday, and I assume it is time to stop treating you like a child and allow you to become the great king that I know you can be.” Taking his hands, Alma looked at her son’s hopeful eyes.

“Really? For real?!”

“Yes, for real.”

“You’re letting me head to the forest?”

Alma sighed. “Again, with the forest blabber? You’re not stepping foot outside our walls.”

Benny stared at the floor as his mother stood up, Pete in his lap as his mother spoke to him. “Now that you’re turning eighteen in a few days, I suspect that we need to throw you a great big-”

“-party,”

“WEDDING!”

He doesn’t know if he threw Pete or if Pete flung himself off, but he gawked at his mother. “Wedding?!”

“I know, genius!” Alma exclaimed, putting her hands together. “People will love a royal wedding! They’ll laugh, they’ll cry! They eat too much cake, they give us presents…”

“I know what you’re doing,” Benny retorted. “I am not getting married, even if it means I die without a spouse. You’re doing this because you want a distraction.”

“Well obviously not silly. You’re getting married for love!”

“I’m not in love with anyone?!”

“Is that what you’re worried about? Don’t you give it a second thought. I can take care of everything.”

“Wait. What does that mean?”

Just then, there were three knocks on the door. “Come in!” his mother exclaimed, and Benny tried his best to find a place to hide. “I’m in my pajamas, mom, you can’t-”

The Chamberlain stumbled in, diverting his eyes away from Benny as if he were ashamed. He knew Rosario didn’t advise this kind of thing. “If you would be so kind to read the proclamation, Kevin?”

“With honor, your Majesty.”

Kevin cleared his throat, and Benny watched the floor as he spoke, his mother practically radiating joy and everything positive. “To all the eligible ladies of the kingdom - are you tired of being unmarried and unwanted? Do you crave meaning in your otherwise meaningless existence? Bring your dancing shoes to a night of Your Majesty’s ball where you can get a chance to marry Prince Benjamin the First.”

“The prince himself will be deciding who will be the one to marry him. We will do so by introducing each and every lady of the district…”

Benny shut out every word the Chamberlain spoke, willing himself not to break or snap in front of his mother. When Kevin slid over the word marriage, he watched Benjamin’s eyes droop down sadly.

“The drawbridge opens promptly at 8:30.”

Alma clapped her hands in pride. “Perfect! Excellent work, Rosario! I trust you will be able to get them out as soon as possible?”

“I can do so right now. Thank you for your time.” Just like that, the Chamberlain exited out of the room, leaving a furious Benny with his mother.

“Mom,” Benny began. “Call Kevin back, right now!”

“Don’t be silly Benny, the Chamberlain’s a very busy man, and if you ask me, I do not pay the Rosarios enough for what I put them through. Now.” She sifted through a closet. “Let’s pick out what you’re going to wear to the ball. It’s rather bold, but I’m thinking ruffles.”

“Mom, enough!”

Alma stared at her son in disbelief that he had just raised his voice to a yell. The village at the bottom of the tower seemed silent.

“No. I’m sorry mom, but no. I don’t care what scheme you’ve concocted, or how much of a distraction you need.” Benny stepped one foot closer to his mother. “I’m not tying the knot with a complete stranger, just because you can’t face the reality of what’s happening to our kingdom! I refuse to be a part of this insanity any longer!”

“Do you understand? This is me, Prince Benjamin the First, putting my foot down. I am not getting married, and I will go to the forest and break this curse. And there is nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me!”

Alma watched her son in plain horror, but she shook her head. “I’m so sorry. I know how ridiculous I must seem to you, but you must believe me, I only want what’s best for you.”

Benny teared up, but willed himself not to let a single teardrop. “I know mom.”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you. Nothing. You have to trust me.”

“I do. Of course I do.”

“Good. I knew you’d understand.” She slammed her foot down three times. “Guards!”

Benny’s eyes widened, before the knights from yesterday came in and took him by the arms. “Wait, what? Mom,” he stammered out hopelessly and weak, watching his mother and Pete stare down at him as he wrestled the guards down the stairwell.

“Escort Prince Benjamin to the Royal Ballroom. Tie him to his throne.”

“What?!”

“Let’s leave, Your Highness.”

“Hey, let go of me! Pete, help me out here!”

The dog rushed over, but Alma shut the door behind her, an audible thump noise hitting the door behind her. “I’ll see you at the party, sweetie.”

“You jerk! What if I have to piss?”

“Then hold it.”

\----

Chamberlain Kevin stood at the doorway. The humongous doorway that Alma loved to metaphorically exaggerate as the “gateway to heaven”. He stood there, greeting the Ladies name by name, as Benny watched from afar on the throne in his pajamas. Wishing he were somewhere else.

“Turn that frown upside down,” his mother gently scolded him. “Nobody wants a grumpy good for nothing sourpuss husband.”

“Maybe I’d feel like smiling if these ropes weren’t cutting my circulation,” Benny gritted out. “I can’t breathe! His mother narrowed her eyes and he shut himself up for the time being.

Kevin arrived in front of him, a huge puffy pink dressed woman obviously standing behind him. “I present my daughter,” he stared at the floor. “Lady Nina Rosario.”

Benny struggled against the bondages. “You don’t have to do this, Chamberlain Rosario,” he retorted, but the Chamberlain came up to Benny.

“The other ladies out there are a bit skirmish. I’m saving you a bit of trouble. As the head of my family, I decide what happens with Nina.”

Kevin nodded, scooting to the side as Nina bowed with a dull expression. “Your Highness, it is an honor to get a chance to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Benny drawled out. He sat back for this one.

“I love your outfit,” she awkwardly stated. “The whole pajama thing seems... rebellious.”

No response. His mother glared at him. Kevin played with the pocket knife he kept in his pocket. Nina fiddled with the ruffles on her dress.

Alma cleared her throat. “Since we’re all here,” she began. “Please fill us in on that book you were reading yesterday.”

“Book? What book?”

“Yes, book. The one we discussed.”

“Right. The book. It was about the lore and anatomy of the average 6th century dragon. See, my favorite part about it was when they explained the aviary concept of flight, because that mechanic can…”

The Queen and her Chamberlain winced and shared a look. Did she actually read the book? Yes, the Chamberlain seemed to say. Alma watched as her son eyed his own Chamberlain in question across the ballroom. Lincoln Rosario only huffed in disdain.

Once Nina finished her little speech, her father clapped for her. “See Benjamin? Nina loves books and dragons! Two of your favorite things - what are the odds?””

“What was the name of the book?”

Nina stared at the floor. “I, uh, oh god,” she stammered, and then she turned to her father in a look that said I forgot the title because I was too busy shoving up the book’s contents in my ass. Kevin facepalmed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Okay, Lady Rosario,” Alma took her by the shoulders gently. “Thank you for stopping by. Do feel free to enjoy the rest of the party.”

She bowed once to the queen, and stared at Benny apologetically before she made her way to her brother. The siblings spoke animatedly about him. He wondered why.

He turned to his mother in disbelief. “You didn’t think that was going to work, did you?”

Alma sighed. “Honestly? It was a good fifty/fifty. If you’ll excuse me, Lady and Lord Jackson just arrived and I need to say something devastating about their outfits. Don’t fall in love without me!”

He watched his mother mingle with the Jacksons, and he groaned. Lincoln left his sister’s side, arriving to watch over him and provide someone to talk to.

“Linc, this night is never going to end,” he complained. “Can you tell someone to loosen these up?”

His best friend went behind the throne and untied at least one knot so that Benny didn't have to strain to move his hands. “Is that okay, Your Highness?”

“Please, call me Benny right now. And yeah - I’m good.”

Lincoln watched him as he sat there, antsy to move and stand up and walk. “You know, my father was in a similar situation when he was younger.”

Benny turned around. “Your grandma tied up your dad to a throne in his pajamas, tried to get him married with literally every female in the land, with him in his pajamas?”

“W-well, it’s not like that,” Lincoln stammered. “He had to marry someone he didn’t love. It brought my grandfather great shame when he refused and ran off with my mother.”

“And how about you, Lincoln?”

“Me?”

“Yeah you. Any other Lincoln’s in the room?”

“What about me?”

“Are you in love with anyone else?”

Lincoln froze, but looked away, resting his head on the side of the throne as he sat down. “Some love is forbidden. I like men. You?”

“Men are an option?”

“Bet. How about you?”

Benny stared at Lincoln, who sipped at some cocktail or punch, a little longer, before he averted his eyes. “Well, I don’t wanna get married. I’m only 17 right now - I shouldn’t be looking for a suitor. And I’d be a bad partner - but it’s not to say that I’d cheat-”

Lincoln pat his shoulder. “That’s valid. Shall I fetch your mother? There’s quite the assortment of ladies waiting to woo you.”

“At this point, my standards in women are going way down. Go ahead, Lincoln.”

“Sure. And Lincoln?”

“What’s up, Benny?”

They shared eyes for a moment, and Benny felt his heart leap a little, but he managed a smile. “Thank you.”

Lincoln bounded across the ballroom, a little skip in his step, until a rumble came to the floor.  
He looked around, spotting Benny struggling to pull the ropes off.

“What’s going on, Lincoln?!” he yelled over the yelps of the ladies at the entrance. “I don’t know,” Lincoln retorted, trying his hardest to snip the ropes off the throne. “But it has to do with the forest.”

Benny looked around. “Whaddaya mean, has to do with the forest?”

Just then, a rumble hit the castle floor, before a huge stalk tunneled out of the porcelain floor. By then, Lincoln successfully pushed him out of the way before he could get taken by the forest’s grasps.

“The forest is invading! Everyone take cover!” he heard Kevin and Nina yell, taking over the situation better than anyone else could. Benny reached for Lincoln, who tried to stand but fell back down.

The vine took him by the foot instead. “Lincoln!” Benny cried out, jumping his father’s throne to try and reach him. He jumped up and wrestled the monster, only to realise that there were three more attacking his people and his mother.

His mother.

“Mom, you have to get out!”

Alma twisted her head. “You have to leave, son!” she proclaimed, whipping out a sword and discarding the train of her elegant red silk dress and wrapping it around her other fist. “Head to the forest!”

Lincoln called his name, tossing him a map and a sword. “This was for your coronation. I would’ve given it to you sooner, but now you need it.”

“What will happen to you while I’m gone? Where do I go?! How do I-”

“Get to the Hollow, Benjamin.”

“I can’t leave you,” he sobbed out. “Not when my kingdom is dying.”

The older Chamberlain chopped the vine holding Lincoln, catching his son as soon as he fell. “You must leave! The prophecy calls for it.”

“Whaddaya mean, prophecy?”

Kevin sat himself next to him. “Once you get to the Hollow, you must break the curse under the forest. You will-”

Just then, a chandelier fell from the ceiling. Lincoln starred up, trying his best to move but altogether frozen. “Lincoln, watch out-”

Kevin picked Benny up and ran, leaving Benny to claw at the wind. “You can’t leave him, please, Kevin that’s your son!” he sobbed out, throat achy and scratchy.

He slid down the stairwell, stopping at the gates of the stairwell to retrieve his horse. “Run Benny,” Kevin told him in the dark of the stable. “Run as far as you can, follow the map, and get to the Hollow.”’

“My mother, is going to die-”

The Chamberlain pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry,” he told him. I’ll make sure everyone is okay. Now go!”

Benny froze. “Pete. Sir, I forgot about Pete-”

“Pete will be fine! You have to go now!”

“But Kevin-”

Before he knew it, the horse was already out the door. “Bartholomew, stop it! We have to go back and save Pete!”

Benjamin turned back. Kevin was doing battle with another one of those unholy vines as Bartholomew jumped another root on the ground. Dodging everyone on the streets, Benny screamed for the safety of everyone, tugging on the reins when he noticed his mother at the bane of a sharp thorn.

His Chamberlain’s words echoed in his head. Go to the Hollow, Benjamin. He shut his eyes and whipped the reins as fast as the horse would let them go, headbutting the gate to the border of the Western kingdom and kicking it behind him. “I have to go save everyone,” he told himself, clutching his sword at the sight of all the vines tensing themselves in front of him.

“Run Bartholomew.”

\---

After a staggering amount of time spent fending off vines in the forest, Benny found a cave. Bartholomew sat in the cool grass as Benny leaned on him, using him as a pillow while he looked up at the clouds.

“Maybe my mom was right,” he told the horse. “Maybe I should’ve just laid back and relaxed.”

No response. Not like he needed one.

Benjamin checked his resources. He had a sword, thank the gods up in heaven, and he had a map. There were a couple of bread loaves in the emergency satchel, and a few dried meats and jerky. A small pitcher full of water was visible, and he gulped as much of it down and choked on it afterwards.

He checked his surroundings. Trees, bushes, and no visible path or stream he could hear.

Prince Benjamin the First was left all alone in the Forest.


End file.
